As I write (a few days before posting this!), our team at FRM are putting the final touches to the Invitation to Tender documents for one of our clients – a service contract being procured (hopefully!) under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. The intention is to advertise the tender a few days before the new regulations under Procurement Act 2023 come into effect from today.
So, what will the new regulations bring to procurement of public contracts? The key points are:
- It is designed to provide more flexible and transparent procurement with greater social responsibility
- It should be easier for SMEs to bid with less barriers - there should be diverse representation of businesses in tenderer selection
- The number of procedures has been streamlined – the Open Procedure remains, with a single Competitive Flexible Procedure that can be designed to suit the procurement
- Public contracts of greater £5m must have a minimum of 3 KPIs which must be reported annually - KPI reports will be accessible to the public, and failure could result in debarment for future procurements
- There will be a Central Digital Platform (CPD) from Monday 24th February 2025 listing the procurement pipeline and storing Supplier details for Contracts. Supplier details can only be seen by Contracting Authorities, but the intention is to streamline the provision of Supplier information in tendering.
- The time limit on Supply contracts is increased from 3 years to 5 years
- Finally, there shall be prompt payment within 30 days – this should be welcome!
Our team at FRM provides technical advice ranging from a critical friend role to a more hands on technical adviser role, to local authorities in the procurement of waste and environmental services contracts. We look forward to seeing how the new Act plays out.
For more details on what we do, see www.frithrm.com, email cherie@frithrm.com or call 01746 552423